1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the sweeping of buoyant mines which are moored by a mooring wire from an anchor on the bottom of a body of water and which float beneath the surface of the water and are actuated by influence signature and/or upon contact with a ship hull, and more particularly to mechanism for permanently marking a floating mine which has been severed or cut from its mooring during the mine sweeping operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the mine sweeping art, attempts have been made to mark mines which have been released during the mine sweeping operation to insure that the location of the released mine is clearly identified for avoidance and/or destruction by others in the future, and to further insure that the sweeping vessels avoid the vicinity of the released mine when resweeping the area. These efforts have included dropping floatable mechanism, such as buoys, near a newly released mine during the sweeping operation, placing a chemical dye or the like in the water near the newly released mine, and the use of other vicinity identifying mechanisms and methods in which the mine and the identifying mechanism are not connected. Unfortunately, due to the unpredictable actions of different floating devices in turbulent waters, the unconnected marker frequently floats away from the location of the floating mine which it was initially marking.
Other devices, such as that taught in U.S. Pat. No. 2,524,863, cause the mine and its mooring mechanism to be connected to the mine sweeping vessel so as to be towed thereby from the stern thereof to insure that the whereabouts of the swept mine is known at all times. Substantial problems are encountered in dragging the intercepted mine mooring mechanism so that the utility of the sweeping vessel is seriously impaired for further sweeping until the mine mooring mechanism can be released.
Other devices, such as that taught in U.S. Pat. No. 1,582,388 to Elia teach connecting a marker to the mine anchor mechanism but permitting the mine to float free, thereby failing to accomplish the navigational safety objective of this invention.